WASHINGTON 05/09/1998 � U.S. regulators Friday bowed to a torrent of public protest and abandoned an earlier
proposal that would have allowed organic food to contain human waste, irradiation or bio-engineered material.
The U.S. Agriculture Department said it would start over again in drafting standards for organic foods, a
fast-growing industry with sales expected to reach $4 billion this year. |
The first sentence alone makes me wonder about the sanity of those in Washington. Did they really
think that the American public wouldn't notice something like that? |
The USDA announcement followed a storm of protest that included musician Willie Nelson, dozens of federal
lawmakers, the entire Vermont legislature, and a grassroots write-in campaign by 200,000 organic farmers,
consumers and environmentalists.
"The department was stunned at the amount of negative publicity they got over the proposed rule," said one
congressional aide. "The USDA is very concerned that it has lost the confidence of the organic farming industry." |
This part really warmed my heart. To know that so many people - including an entire state
legislature cared enough to speak up, and actually made a difference... this is as it should be. And I think that the
USDA has a well-founded worry there about losing confidence, but I believe they have actually underestimated the
numbers and types of people who are now a little more suspicious and cynical. |
The organic industry, which produces meats, vegetables, soaps, textiles and other products, asked the USDA
to establish national standards because of the patchwork of state and regional rules governing organic products.
The controversy intensified to the point where even Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman recently joked in a
speech that he had picked up a protest form letter from a display at a local organic food store where he shops. |
I have often wondered if folks in Washington do their own shopping. Now I want to say that I
think the health food stores, the co-ops and any other community-focused business like them, are among the best experiences
of public activism that I have seen. My local organic grocery store also carried flyers and educated their consumers
about what was going on, and yes, I voiced my disapproval of this proposal. |
Ironically, the USDA had not planned to include what became known as "the big three issues" in its proposed
rules last December. But other members of the Clinton administration pressed to have sewage sludge, irradiation
and bioengineered plants included in the proposed rule.
Those practices are "safe and have important roles to play in agriculture, but they neither fit current organic
practices nor meet consumer expectations about organics," Glickman said. "USDA is committed to developing
national organic standards that organic farmers and consumers will embrace," he added in a statement explaining
the department's decision. |
I want to believe that the USDA means this. I do not know the people personally,
so I am unsure whether or not they were being honest with us, the public. So, with the evidence right here before us,
that the government has attempted once to run this before us, I feel that the public will have to be even more
vigilant in the future. Otherwise, I am afraid they will dress the sewage up in pretty clothes and we won't
notice it, until after the fact.
What a horrible thought. I would hate to live in a world where organic
meant the possibility of all those things that organics has tried to get away from. |
| This article, "USDA bows to public protest over organic food proposal", was found online at The Deseret News, which is
published in Salt Lake City, Utah. The original URL is http://www.desnews.com/wir/um1cru8x.htm. |
This is just how I see the situation. --Ivy |
